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Session 2533

Energy and the Environment: An Energy Education Course for High School Teachers

John L. Krohn, Stanton C. Apple Arkansas Tech University

Introduction

During the summers of 1999, 2000 and 2001, the Department of Engineering at Arkansas Tech University conducted a two-week workshop for junior and senior high school science teachers entitled “Energy and the Environment”. Participants received three hours of graduate credit for the course in either secondary education or physical science. The goals of the course were to introduce the participants to the various sources of energy available and utilized in our society, to give them a balanced view of the advantages, disadvantages and potential for each of these sources, and to provide them with the equipment and training to be able to conduct some simple energy related experiments in their classes.

The Arkansas Center for Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (ACENRES) and the Arkansas Math and Science Institute (both located at Arkansas Tech), along with the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (through the Eisenhower Grant program) and the Arkansas Section of ASME provided grant funds to cover some of the participant’s costs and to purchase equipment. Each participant who was currently employed as a public school teacher received an experiment kit with approximately $450 of equipment to take to their school at the end of the course.

Motivation

The “Energy and the Environment” course grew out of a desire of the engineering faculty involved to promote discussion and knowledge of energy supplies, both now and in the future, for our nation and the world. On a global level, energy use is growing, and will grow at a more rapid pace, as more nations aspire to the standard of living of the more developed nations. What sources will mankind choose to utilize to produce this energy while also balancing the effect of this energy production and usage on the environment?

One of the greatest challenges facing our nation in the intermediate future (20-40 years hence) is the development of a reliable and sufficient supply of energy, especially electricity, when faced with the inevitable decline in the present primary sources (coal, oil and gas). While securing a stable and available supply of petroleum has long been a matter of U.S. national security, the general public has only a modest level of knowledge of, or concern for, our energy sources.

“Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Krohn, J. (2003, June), Energy & The Environment: An Energy Education Course For High School Teachers Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--11513